If you’re looking for a reusable travel coffee mug that’s also stylish, you’ll need to see the Corkcicle Commuter Cup. It’s got beautiful, smooth finishes, a fast-opening lid and a non-slip bottom.
Clearly the Commuter is a travel and work mug but we reviewed one for to see how it work as a camping mug too.
Pros
- beautiful finish
- ceramic-coated interior
- fast to sip from lid
Cons
- can’t take lid apart to clean
- not leakproof
This review is part of the recent Best Camp Mug test. See the other reviews:
- Yeti Rambler 532 with HotShop Cap
- Klean Kanteen TKWide Coffee Tumbler
- Miir Tomo Insulated Bottle
- Stanley Classic Travel Mug French Press
- BrüMate Pour Over Mug
- Snowpeak Kanpai Mug
What is the Corkcicle Commuter Cup?
The Commuter Cup is beautiful travel mug from Corkcicle. We reviewed the 17oz in the Quicksand color but there is a 9 oz and many other finishes to pick from. There are a ton of finishes to choose from. Dragonfly and Dipped Olive are also stunning.
On top, a 360 Sip Lid pushes in quickly to open it for sipping. One quick push closes the lid again for travel. Very easy and fast to open and close.
The bottle itself is stainless steel but there’s a ceramic coating inside that so what you’re drinking doesn’t touch the stainless. I’m not able to taste the difference between ceramic and stainless but it’s nice for those who can.
On the bottom is a non-slip circle that is very grippy. When it’s wet it has a little suction to the bottom of the sink or other smooth surfaces but it’s nice and grippy like it should be on dry surfaces. It’s not going to go sliding anywhere.
The slender bottom easily fits in any regular cupholder and feels very nice to hold. The flat sides and slight taper just feels good to hold.
Size and Shape
The Commuter is 8.3 inches tall and 3.13 inches around. There’s a slight taper so the bottom is less than that, easily fitting into cupholders. No issues with putting into bike bottle cages either.
A thin rubber grip on the bottom makes it very non-slip. When it’s sitting on a table, you can’t see the rubber bottom to it. It disappears in the shadow below the cup.
Pouring and Drinking
The 360 Sip Lid is very nice to drink from. Coffee and water come out at a decent speed and not too fast. Opening and closing the lid is just a quick tap in the middle of the top. The whole center sinks in allowing liquids to come out.
The edges around the top of the lid are smooth and sloped towards the middle. It doesn’t have any sharp edges on top.
The top of the cup itself is smooth as well if you aren’t drinking with the lid. The top edge of the cup is uncovered stainless so if you’re drinking straight from the cup, the liquid will touch stainless.
Is it Spillproof?
For quick tips, the Commuter holds all your coffee no problem. The lid does let a little bit of the liquid through a few drips at a time though so it’s not safe for just throwing in a bag. With how easy the lid is to open and sip it may bump something and open anyways. Great for travel and drinking, not enough for storing in a bag though.
Hot test
With all the mugs in our recent camp mug roundup, we ran a 12 hour hot test. Those that were over 120 degrees Fahrenheit by 12 hours kept going for another 12.
Each mug was filled with boiling water around 200F and closed. I checked the temperature every 1-2 hours with an Accuchef thermometer. Each cup/bottle was open for about 20 seconds when I was measuring the temperature. Temperature outside the bottles was warm room temperature.
| Miir Tomo | Snowpeak Kanpai (Hot lid) | Klean Kanteen TKWide Coffee | Yeti Rambler with Hotshot Cap | Snowpeak Kanpai (Sip lid) | Stanley Classic Travel Mug French Press | Brumate Pour Over Mug | Corkcicle Commuter Cup | |
| 7:45am | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| 10am | 189.1 | 185.4 | 177.6 | 179.1 | 167.2 | 161.8 | 160.0 | 149.2 |
| 12pm | 179.2 | 173.8 | 162.1 | 164.8 | 148.3 | 144.0 | 138.9 | 127.6 |
| 1pm | 175.5 | 168.8 | 157.6 | 158.4 | 142.3 | 136.2 | 132.6 | 122.2 |
| 3pm | 167.2 | 158.4 | 146.5 | 148.1 | 130.6 | 125.2 | 120.0 | 111.0 |
| 5:30pm | 159.1 | 148.1 | 136.6 | 136.9 | 120.9 | 114.6 | 110.1 | 102.9 |
| 7:45pm (12 hours) | 152.1 | 139.6 | 129 | 128.8 | 113.7 | 107.4 | 103.8 | 97.5 |
| 7:45am (24 hours) | 127.4 | 111.2 | 104.5 | 102.0 |
The Commuter kept coffee warm for about 5 hours, which is exactly what they have posted on their website. Past that it dipped below the 120 lower end for coffee. 5 hours is plenty for a morning coffee getting to lunch but it won’t keep things hot all day.
Cleaning
Cleaning on the Commuter is a bit of work. It’s hand wash only for the cup.
The lid doesn’t come apart at all so it’s hard to see if it’s dirty inside. It’ll need a soak in something to really get it clean inside.
Durability
Ceramic is a pretty durable material so I don’t really have any concerns with how long the cup will last. The combination of stainless and ceramic should make it pretty tough.
The paint is spotless so far. It’s been in and out of the car and fallen over on the counter a couple times.
My only concern for the longevity of the Commuter is the lid. It has some mechanism inside that pops it up and down and can’t be opened. At some point It’ll get too hard to clean and have to be chucked. I’d love to see a more cleanable lid from Corkcicle.
Who is Corkcicle?
Corkcicle began in 2010 when they created the first wine-chilling cork, aka the ‘corkcicle’.
Since then they’ve branched into all kinds of sustainable drinkware, barware, coolers and bags. They aim to make sustainable stylish. I have to admit their tumblers and bottles look amazing compared to the utilitarian stainless bucket look of some other brands.
They’ve done a ton of collabs with the likes of Marvel, Disney, Rifle Paper Co and others. They also donate 1% of every purchase to charity:water. Always nice to see another big brand working so hard on water and sustainability projects.
Conclusion
The Corkcicle Commuter Cup is a beautiful travel mug that feels good to hold and drink from. The finishes are nicer than most other mugs I’ve had and it’s been very durable so far. The ceramic coating is perfect for those that don’t like a stainless steel taste to their coffee. I’d love to see a lid that’s easier to clean but outside of that, it’s a joy use.
Verdict: Recommended
Usual Price: $47.95 USD ($72.00 CAD)
My lid didn’t last a full year, and I use it less than once a week. I want to say the spring broke after about 20 uses and I use it in the office, don’t abuse it by any means.